by Ashley Marek
Smoky incense fills my nostrils as the
priest saunters down the aisle passing our
pew we sit in Sunday after Sunday.
We go through the readings and sing the hymns
as a middle-aged woman stares at my
bare legs and I cannot remember what
comes after the Nicene Creed. He will come
again in glory to judge the living
and the dead. I am transformed into Eve,
a shameful woman. I look down at my
exposed bare legs, my wisdom is unleashed.
My pops squeezes my hand while reciting
verbatim the old prayer his dad taught him.
All I want is to hide behind him now,
like I did as a kid, my guardian angel.
Ashley Marek is a winner of the 2020 Manitou Fellowship sponsored by the Literary Arts Institute of the College of Saint Benedict. She is currently working on an essay collection about her experience with self-induced anxiety. She is obsessed with cats and has a large, orange tabby nicknamed Pat the Fat Cat.